Bilal Diab launches hunger strike for freedom

Re-arrested former Palestinian prisoner and long-term hunger striker Bilal Diab has launched a hunger strike to demand his freedom. Diab was seized by occupation forces in a pre-dawn raid on his home in the village of Kafr Ra’i near Jenin on Friday, 14 July.

The Mohja Al-Quds Association announced that Diab, 32, is entering his eighth day of hunger strike; he began refusing food on the same day he was seized by occupation forces, 14 July.

He has been seized and imprisoned by the Israeli occupation on multiple occasions, frequently being held without charge or trial under administrative detention. He has also been jailed under allegations of participation in a prohibited organization, the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. He was last released from Israeli prison on 15 December 2015.

In 2012, he engaged in a 77-day open hunger strike alongside Thaer Halahleh to demand his freedom from administrative detention without charge or trial. Following his hunger strike, he was released on 9 August 2012.